MISSOULA — The Perrin family has been synonymous with running in the state of Montana, and a large part of that community thanks to the never-ending success they continue to have.
That reality has a chance to continue this weekend in Missoula when Zach and Ben Perrin both lace up the shoes to compete in the men's half marathon on Sunday in Missoula.
"Just getting back to Missoula and doing this event, it's one of the weekends I look forward to the most out of the year," Zach said. "(The) half marathon's a hard distance, but for whatever reason, this event just kind of keeps bringing me back."
Both are Kalispell natives who now reside in Bozeman.
Zach's success stems from a decorated career at Kalispell Flathead High School in cross country and track and field as a multi-time state champ. From there, he carved out an All-American career in track at the University of Colorado while being part of a national championship team on the cross country side for the Buffaloes.
After college, Zach's passion for running continued, and he won the Missoula half marathon in 2022, and he also owns two of the top-10 times in the race's history.
"I think just like working inside, I need something to channel my energy towards outside of work," Zach said. "Running for me is just like a great way to unwind after working all day long. And I'm competitive. It's been fun to go ahead and just keep doing these events as well and just be a good reason to stay in shape."
His success paved the way for his three younger siblings to also pursue high-level running, with his younger brother Jake competing for Gonzaga, while Ben and the youngest sibling, Hannah, ran at Montana State.
"Zach was the first one to get into it, and I think you know, with Jake and Hannah and I, we all just followed Zach," Ben said. "I think we're just a competitive family. We like doing something like running where we can see progression and get better at something every day and just work hard at something. It's been really fun."
Ben recently completed his career with the Bobcats, having been an All-American in outdoor track, a Big Sky champion, as well as an Olympic Trials qualifier.
This will be his first Missoula half marathon.
"I'm just excited to go and see what I can do, like I still haven't run a lot of long road races before," Ben said. "I think it'll be fun to go out there and just see what I can do. And enjoy the atmosphere there. It seems really cool."
Plus, the brothers haven't competed in the same race often, so Sunday's event will be another special moment in the Perrin household.
"I was super excited. Honestly, we've probably only ever done a few races together just because he's quite a bit younger than me," Zach said. "And then obviously, we weren't in college at the same time. So yeah, really looking forward to running with him this weekend, I think it's going to be a lot of fun."
